Improved atmospheric trip-hammer



NiTn STATES PATENT Ormea.

BENNET HOTGHKISS, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.l

IMPROVED ATMOSPHERIC TRIP-HAMMER.

Speeieation forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,924, dated September 15', 1863 antedated July 2, 1863.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENNE'L Ho'rcHxIss, of the city and county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Atmospheric Trip-Hammers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe construction and operation or" the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l'is a front view. Fig. 2 is a side view. Fig. 3 is a vertical central section through the driving-shaft; Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, detached parts enlarged.

Same letters refer to like parts.

A is the supporting-frame of the hammer and its operative mechanism. The upper or supported part, B,- is bolted to the lower or supporting frame, A, in the manner as shown in Fig. 6, viz:

N N are bolts of common constructiomf the head, g the nut, It h washers. Under the washers h h are placed elastic substances t' t', and sufficiently compressed to hold the upper and lower parts trmly together and yet yield slightly to the concussion produced by the fall of the hammer. l do this to lessen the liability ot breaking the frame or other parts of the machine by the jar from the blow of the hammer. The upper part, B, is constructed so as to form guides C C to receive and guide the air-sprin g cylinder D. This cylinder D is similar in construction to the cylinder used by me inmy hammer patented June 14,1859, with the exception that whereas that cylinder has but one hole or passage made through its side and midway between the heads of the cylinder, this one now under consideration has one or more holes or passages, e b, in the side of the cylinder; or, instead of the passages e b, two puppet-valves, F G, are inserted in the side of the cylinder, each at or near the two ends of the cylinder, and opening into the same, and the two connected by a passage, H. The object of this is to graduate the stroke of the hammer.

I is a piston, arranged within the cylinder D, and has its rod K extending through the lower head, E, of the cylinder, and attached to a hammer, L.

As in all hammers constructed and operated by a piston rod, the liability to break the rod at its connection d with the hammer is very great, and is consequently an equally great objection to such constructed hammers. I have endeavored to overcome this objection and difficulty by making the rod larger a-t the point ot' connection d and reducing from that point to the proper size for the piston-rod. (See Fig. 5.) To enable me to do this. I make the hole for the rod through the stuffing-box gland M, and also through the cylinder-head E, of sufficient size to pass freely over the enlarged part d of the rod, and to pack the stuft ing-box I place within the box plates ee, each divided as see Fig. 7, and the hole through the plates e e fitting the smaller part ot' the piston-rod. The said plates, being in parts, can be placed in the box after the enlarged part of the rod is passed through, and the packing may be placed between the upper and lower plates and compressed in the ordinary manner.

O is the driving shaft, has its journals supported in boxes P P, to which is attached a pulley, R, and at the opposite end ot the sh aft is xed a crank-wheel, S.

mis the crank-pin extending through the connecting-rod or pitman T, whose upper end is by a similar pin, n, connected to the cylinder D. By applying power to the pulley lt motion will be imparted to the shaft O, and thence through connecting-rod T, reciprocating vertical movements will be given tothe pneumatic or air-spring cylinder D, or its equivalent, and in consequence of the same the hammer will be lifted from and forced downward toward the anvil U, or any article placed thereon, by the compression of air in the opposite ends or portions of the cylinderthat is, during each elevation or depression of the cylinder the piston will pass by the airpassages a or b and compress all the air that may be in the cylinder between the airrpassage a or b and that head of the cylinder which may be approaching the piston. This compression of the air while the cylinder is ascending will act as a spring to gradually overcome the inertia of the hammer and prevent thepiston from coming in contact with the lower head of the cylinder. So during the descent of the cylinder, the air will be similarly compressed in its upper part, and will operate to accelerate the downward movement of the piston. As the quantity of air compressed iu the cylinder is more or less, so will the length ot' the stroke ot' the hammer be more or less. In my hammer, already patented, and before referred to, I could not change the quantity of air, in consequence of having but one hole or air-passage in the cylinder, but was compelled to change the velocity so as to give the required stroke. Therefore, for greater facility in adjusting the blow of the hammer, I have introduced two air-passages, a and b. By

-closing the lower hole or passage, b,and opening` the upper, I have a quantity of air to compress below the piston equal to the contents of the cylinder below the upper hole, a, or by opening thelower hole, 11,1 have diminished the quantity of air in proportion as the hole is lower down, and, as the hammer cannot raise until the piston is met bythe air helow it in the cylinder', the higher up or nearer thc middle ofthe cylinder the hole or passage c is placed the greater will be the quantity of air, the sooner the hammer will raise, and, consequently, higher. Then I am enabled to vary the blow of my hammer while I maintain auniform velocity of the driving-shaft. Or, for still greater range of variation in the stroke of the hammer, I tix in the side of the cylinder two puppetvalves, F G. (See Figs. 4 and 5.) These valves open inward, and are opened by the movement of the cylnder. ll`he stems fr .s from the valves extend out through the cylinder, and for the purpose of opening the valves at any desirable point to relieve the air from below or above the piston, I tix upon the g iide C two adjustable inclined planes, W and X. The stems r and s striking and riding upon the inclined planes either in the upward or downward movement of the cylinder, will f rce the valve in sooner or later as the inclined planes are nealer or farther from the cylinder. By opening the lower valve before the cylinder has reached its eXtreme height, and thus released, the air compressed below the piston will pass through the passage H and upper valve into the space above the piston. The result is that the hammer begins its descent before the cylinder, and while the crank is passing its upper dead-center, and the hammer will reach the anvil before the cylinder will have attained its lowest extreme, but before the cylinder has reached its lower extreme, I release the air from the upper part of the cylinder accumulated by the accelerated descent of the hammer by opening the upper valve; thus the air contained in the space above the piston passes down and through the lower valve into the cylinder below the piston. By opening the valves, as described. I gain sufticient time for the crank to pass its lower deadcenter and have begun its ascent before the hammer will begin to rise. rlhe effect of this is that I am enabled to shorten the stroke orlighten the blow without diminishing the velocity of the cylinder or number of strokes in a given time.

I am aware that a single puppet-valve has been used in atmospheric hammers to allow the air to escape from above the piston in the ascent ot the hammer, as in the patent of Milo Peck, April 17, 1860; therefore [do not claim a valve used in such manner or for such purpose, as either one of my valves without the other could not accomplish the result which I have obtained in combining` two; but

What I do claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The elastic washers t' and bolts N, in combination with the supporting-frame A and working-frame B, in the manner and for the purpose substantially as herein set forth.

2. -Two air-passages, a, and b, in con'ibination with a pneumatic or air spring cylinder when said passages are arranged substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

3. The valves F Gr, arranged as described, in combination with a pneumatic or air spring cylinder, operating in the manner and for the purpose substantially as herein speeilied.

4. The combination desciibed of the valves F Gr with the air-passage ll, for the purpose ot" changing the air from the upper to lower air-spring, or vice versa, to lessen or increase the lorce of'the blow of the hammer without changing the velocity ot' the cylinder, substantially as set forth.

5. The enlargement of the piston-rod in the manner described, in combination with the stuffing-box plates, or their equivalents, substantially for the purpose specilied.

BENNET HOTOHKISS.

\Vitnesses:

OBADIAH PEAsE, JOHN E. EARLE. 

